Tin Roof by Crystal Folz

Tin Roof

We hear him skulking in the backyard. He lingers over the snapped branch, and I imagine his eyes brittling like ice. We don't know when he will speak so we stand in the backyard with our fingers entwined, listening to his heavy breathing and the rain misting the treetops.

It occurs to me that I haven't been this still for a very long time, and I think if I could reach out and touch them both, I could mold this moment like a piece of jewelry to wear a groove around my finger. Then the rain comes down hard and soaks the trees until they are black and wet like my insides, and I know I have to move or shake or let go of his hand.

We walk up the hill together, one of them on each side of me, and I want us to keep walking past the parked cars outside the bar house, cross the road, and stop for a moment at the pond. There, we could stand beside each other and stare at our distorted reflections as the rain comes down and laughter leaks through the windows in the bar. We might be happy, the three of us, gawking at the smiling faces in the water. I know I would.

Instead, we go inside and sit at a round table. They talk about the noise on the tin roof, and I buy the three of us double shots of whiskey. I should feel caught or busted but I don't.

The waitress brings a shot of Jagermeister, compliments of the gentleman at the bar.

They shake their heads as I drink it down. Cold, black, and wet, it coats my throat, feeling like victory inside.

Then there's just us, the empty shot glasses, the last of the acorns pouncing on the tin roof, and the man at the bar patting the stool next to him.

Photos by Christopher Woods

Christopher Woods has published a prose collection, UNDER A RIVERBED SKY, and a collection of stage monologues for actors, HEART SPEAK. His photographs can be seen in his online gallery, www.moonbirdhillarts.etsy.com, which he shares with his wife, Linda. He lives in Houston and in Chappell Hill, Texas.

Cremation by Nicole Nicholson

someone's dream or
obligation just died before the
eyes of commuters

blazing car belches
cotton explosions of gray smoke
into the air

a sacrifice to
the ghosts – I silently hope
the inferno grows

our car floats
in a sea of moving
masses of pain

which crunch to
a slow, hesitating, rubbernecking halt
burn, baby, burn

roadside funeral pyre
she'll wear a burned shoulder
news at eleven


Nicole Nicholson is a 32 year-old writer and performance poet who draws inspiration from history, legends and folklore, people, nature, and the voices in her head. She blogs frequently at ravenswingpoetry and in July 2008, self-published a poetry chapbook, Raven Feathers. Her work has recently appeared in Young American Poets and she was featured as a Poet of the Week on Poetry Super Highway as well as a favorite writer in June 2008 on Poetry Dances, a web site featuring online poetry by emerging writers. She lives in Columbus, OH with her fiance.

A Call for Submissions/Featured Writers Updated

Beginning December 12, we will feature a writer throughout the entire weekend.

Featured Writer Line Up:

December 12 - Scot Young
December 19 - Tim Morris
December 26 - David Mclean
January 2 - Matt Finney
January 9 - Audrey Victoria
January 16 - Alan King
January 23 - Christopher Ward

New posts Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

If you want to see this blog updated everyday with a new piece of writing, submit and tell your friends. I want more, more, more!

Thanks for helping me out and keep that work coming.

The Guild of Outsider Writers

I love this group of fine people. Please stop by to have a look and meet fellow writers, some of whom you'll recognize from Shoots and Vines. Lots of things get done here and everyone works hard to spread the word and encourage other writers. OW was the inspiration behind my zine because of the quality of work I saw there everyday.

Outsider Writers

If you have trouble with the format or questions, send an email my way and I'll do what I can to help you out.

Scroll down Shoots and Vines and on the bottom of the right sidebar is a link to my profile. Leave me a message and let me know you found Outsider Writers from Shoots and Vines.

Hope you all enjoy the group as much as I do.

Notice: Regular Contributors

Regular Contributors will begin in February. Every Monday, there will be posts scheduled throughout the day written by the regular contributors.

Tom Sullivan
Audrey Victoria
Scot Young

If you have already been published in Shoots and Vines and would like to be a regular contributor, please send an email with regular contributor listed in the subject.

If your name is on the list, which I will update in this post throughout January, and you do not wish to be a regular contributor, let me know.

If we discussed this in the past and you agreed but don't see your name, that is because the email has drifted off somewhere. Please shoot me an email.

Thanks. I love the work you all have been sending me. I haven't read a book in almost a month.

Crystal

Featured Writer: Tim Morris Day 3

it's happening


somewhere,
in a sedated florescent glow,
rows and rows of pornography
are being molested
by curious hands...

somewhere,
between guilt-ridden tiles,
a boy fondles himself
in the mirror over a sink...

somewhere,
in the aromatic light of dawn,
a woman fingers the delicate labia
of her entranced lover...

somewhere,
in the drone of tomorrow,
a man on his knees sweats
at an altar, asking for his wife's
quick and painless demise...

somewhere,
in the overwhelming shadow of a cross,
a woman sucks at a bottle of gin
while spinning a razor blade
between her teeth...

all the while
carousel horses dance
to their happy, happy song.